


The First

by alxxiis



Series: The Raven's Pyre [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 09:43:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16910583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alxxiis/pseuds/alxxiis
Summary: Avalynn, the Last Dragonborn, meets Miraak, the First. It's brief, but it's the start of a journey more complicated than she ever expected. After leaving Miraak's temple, she travels back to the Skaal village with Frea who shares her knowledge of Miraak.





	The First

* * *

There had been no warning for the unpleasant sensation of being wrapped in sickly green tendrils that flew out of the pages of the dark book. No hint that something so disgusting would spring out and pull her into an abysmal darkness.

Avalynn’s stomach turned as her feet found solid ground and her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. The sky was a pale olive color, and towers and pillars of books spread out into the thick fog that settled in the distance. Several figures stood in front of her; only one looked relatively human-like, and the others simply were masses of tentacles.

The man-shaped being spoke in the same voice she’d heard from the stones that enthralled the villagers of Raven Rock.

“The time comes soon when–What?” 

The figure spun around and threw a bolt of lightning into Avalynn’s torso as a blue snake-like dragon landed beside the man. Her legs buckled and she fell forward, throwing her hands out in front to catch herself on the ground.

“Who are you to dare set foot here?” he asked, approaching her.

Her body tingled with the lingering effects of the lightning, paralyzing her limbs as the magic burrowed into her muscles. All she could manage was a slight lift of her head; enough to glare at the man who attacked. His robes matched the realm she’d been thrown into, as did the mask that hid his face.

“Ah,” he said, stopping just a few feet in front of her. “I can feel it.” 

He stepped closer and knelt. Teaching out and grabbing her jaw, he tilted Avalynn’s head further back. The slits in the eyes of his mask were dark, but she could feel his eyes boring into hers; the hair on her neck stood on end, and her body twitched with the need to flee.

The man let out a scoff and dropped her head before standing. 

“The Last Dragonborn,” he spat. “You are written in the prophecies, and yet you have done little beyond killing a few dragons. Whoever led you on this path to me left you woefully unprepared.”

Turning his back to her, the man continued speaking.

“You cannot stop me,” he boasted. “Soon, they will finish building my temple, and I will escape this realm. I will return home, and Solstheim will be mine.”

With a gesture toward Avalynn, the man ordered the tentacle clusters to send her back and climbed onto the dragon’s back, taking off with a wordless command. Her eyes followed the icy dragon, or rather, the man who directed it, even as his servants descended on her. Only when they began pelting her with their magic did she pay them mind.

As each burst hit, her vision darkened until she was engulfed in pure blackness.

Light trickled into her vision as she returned to the chamber she’d found the book in. She stood in front of the pedestal, still holding the book. It gave off a loud, hollow thump as she slammed it shut. 

“What happened to you?” Frea asked.

She moved into Avalynn’s view, her eyes wide and her weapon drawn.

“You read the book and then…” Her voice quieted as her eyes fell on the book in Avalynn’s hands. “It seemed as though you were not really here. I could see you, but I could also see through you! What happened?”

Avalynn’s gaze also dropped to the book. Her head told her to drop it, leave, forget this ordeal and focus on stopping Alduin, but…  _escape_. The word twisted in her chest and clung to her lungs.

“Avalynn?”

Frea’s voice cut through her thoughts and pulled her back to the temple. 

“Sorry,” Avalynn muttered. “I don’t know what happened. When I opened the book, these  _things_ wrapped around me and pulled me into some… place.”

“What did you see?”

“I saw a man,” she replied. “He spoke to me and then rode away on a dragon.”

“Was it Miraak?” she asked, her voice tight, her eyes pleading to be wrong.

“I believe so.”

“And this book took you to him?” she asked, not waiting for an answer. “It is a dangerous thing, then. We should return to my village and show this to my father. Perhaps Storn can make sense of what is going on.”

I nodded and pulled my pack from my shoulders to push the book inside. Despite its size, it didn’t weight much, and she didn’t feel much difference when returning her bag to her back.

“Come,” Frea said. “Let us leave this place.”

* * *

“Are you cold?” Frea asked. “Here.” She handed Avalynn a heavy hide blanket.

“Thanks,” Avalynn replied, graciously taking the blanket and wrapping it around her shoulders.

She’d been in the cold of Skyrim plenty of times, but the sheer difference in temperature from the Skaal village to Raven Rock was throwing her body temperature off. Over the chattering of her teeth, Avalynn could hear the wind whistling through whatever cracks it could find in the house. Each whistle made her teeth louder.

“Do you like bristleback stew?”

Frea was stirring something in the pot over the fire; the hearty aroma caused a gnawing sensation in Avalynn’s stomach, and it growled in response to Frea’s question.

“I’ve never had it,” Avalynn said. “It smells great, though.”

The scent of herbs and meat hung in the air, following Frea as she joined Avalynn on the floor in front of the fireplace. It was strange, sitting there in an unfamiliar house in an unfamiliar land and not feeling completely out of place. Frea had been welcoming, granted it was likely motivated by the fact that Avalynn had helped uncover the source behind the Skaal’s enthralling, but it was still generous. Though, Frea’s father, Storn, gave an ominous warning that left Avalynn feeling uneasy.

_You could save us… or you could bring about our destruction._

“Frea,” Avalynn began. “What is Miraak’s story?”

“His story is as old as Solstheim itself,” Frea said. “They say it was a great battle between Miraak and another of the dragon priests that tore the island from the mainland. I am unsure of the truth in this story. Much of what is known has been lost through the ages.”

She adjusted her seated position, bunching up the furs they sat on in the process. 

“Miraak served the dragons before their fall from power,” she continued. “As most did. A priest in their order, but unlike most, he turned against them. He made his own path, and his actions cost him dearly.”

“That’s not a decision made lightly,” Avalynn remarked. “What made him turn against them?”

Frea shrugged before continuing. “The stories say he sought to claim Solstheim for himself, and the dragons destroyed him for it.”

“Obviously, that last part’s wrong,” Avalynn said, more to herself than Frea.

“Yes, it would seem so.”

She stood and returned to the pot to stir the stew. The warmth of her body followed, leaving Avalynn with a new wave of cold.

“I do not know what it is Miraak learned that gave him reason to turn on his masters,” Frea spoke as she continued stirring. “Perhaps it was the discovery that he was Dragonborn. Perhaps he felt he no longer owed allegiance to that which he could devour. With his temple in ruins, I do not believe we will ever have the answer.”

With the stew finished, Frea gathered two bowls and filled them with the hearty food. She offered one to Avalynn who accepted graciously. Frea returned to her spot on the floor as Avalynn wasted no time scooping a spoonful of stew in her mouth.

“Careful!” Frea warned, shooting a concerned look at Avalynn. “It will scorch your mouth.”

Avalynn smiled as she swallowed another spoonful.

“Your tongue tends to stop feeling heat when you can Shout fire,” Avalynn explained.

The stew settled well in her stomach, warming her better than the blanket or fire. Avalynn took another bite, gnawing on the boar meat and finding it pleasantly salted.

“Is that all that’s know about him?” she asked after finishing her food. “It seems like so little, like it’s just a myth.”

“You have seen him yourself,” she countered. “He is as real as you and I. His temple has been a grim reminder of the cruel path he walked those long millennia ago.”

Avalynn thought back to the skeletons that littered the land around Miraak’s temple; so many bones, so many deaths. She couldn’t imagine the horrors of living under the dragons’ rule, though; she understood wanting to break free from such oppression. To have killed so many dragons, to have the power to do so… Her stomach turned at the thought of having to face him in battle, and yet, she was intrigued.


End file.
